anchor Richard Keys has stirred controversy by arguing that Szoboszlai’s spectacular free-kick against Arsenal — which secured Liverpool a crucial victory on Sunday — should not have counted.
In a clash billed as a pivotal moment in the Premier League title race, both teams struggled to produce clear chances.
But Szoboszlai broke the deadlock with a thunderous strike from long range, instantly shifting the narrative and overshadowing previous set-piece specialists like Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Despite the brilliance of the goal, Keys maintains it was illegitimate. He’s backed by a former PGMOL official, adding weight to his claim.
After the match, Keys took to X (formerly Twitter), sharing a still image of the moment Szoboszlai struck the ball.
In the frame, Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo appear to be positioned extremely close to Arsenal’s defensive wall — a potential breach of the rules regarding interference and proximity.
Keys used the post to argue that the goal should have been disallowed, captioning the image with a pointed remark suggesting the officials missed a crucial detail.
“No one metre gap here. Have we forgotten about that already?”
This argument echoes a comparable situation from Chelsea’s season opener against Crystal Palace.
During that match, Eberechi Eze looked to have netted the decisive goal with a powerful free-kick that slipped past Robert Sanchez in the first half.
Yet, the effort was ultimately disallowed due to Marc Guehi’s aggressive positioning. The defender was judged to have encroached too closely on the defensive wall, violating the rules around interference and spacing.
The official explanation of the law according to IFAB states that: “Where three or more defending team players form a ‘wall’, all attacking team players must remain at least 1 m (1 yd) from the ‘wall’ until the ball is in play.
“If, when a free-kick is taken, an attacking team player is less than 1 m (1 yd) from a ‘wall’ formed by three or more defending team players, an indirect free-kick is awarded.”
Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett also chimed in, agreeing with Keys. He responded to his original tweet by joking “That was last week Richard, this week the law interpretation has changed.”
In response, a fan shared an alternative camera angle that seemed to show Wirtz and Gakpo positioned at a greater distance from Arsenal’s wall. However, Keith Hackett dismissed the image, urging viewers to “watch the video, not a cherry-picked frame.”
VAR analyst Dale Johnson echoed concerns about the proximity of the Liverpool players to the wall. He later followed up by quoting the relevant rule word-for-word, reinforcing his argument that the goal should have been ruled out.
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